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Ecosystem energetic implications of parasite and free-living biomass in three estuaries

Nature volume 454, pages 515–518 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Parasites can have strong impacts but are thought to contribute little biomass to ecosystems1,2,3. We quantified the biomass of free-living and parasitic species in three estuaries on the Pacific coast of California and Baja California. Here we show that parasites have substantial biomass in these ecosystems. We found that parasite biomass exceeded that of top predators. The biomass of trematodes was particularly high, being comparable to that of the abundant birds, fishes, burrowing shrimps and polychaetes. Trophically transmitted parasites and parasitic castrators subsumed more biomass than did other parasitic functional groups. The extended phenotype biomass controlled by parasitic castrators sometimes exceeded that of their uninfected hosts. The annual production of free-swimming trematode transmission stages was greater than the combined biomass of all quantified parasites and was also greater than bird biomass. This biomass and productivity of parasites implies a profound role for infectious processes in these estuaries.

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Figure 1: Biomass of animals and proportional contribution of parasites in three estuaries.
Figure 2: Ecosystem-level biomass density of animal parasites in three estuaries.
Figure 3: Ecosystem-level biomass density of parasitically castrated (extended phenotypes) and uninfected phenotypes of hosts supporting parasitic castrators in three estuaries.
Figure 4: Standing crop biomass and cercarial productivity of trematodes in Cerithidea californica snails.

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Acknowledgements

We thank many assistants, in particular I. Jimenez, A. Kaplan, M. Saunders, J. Smith, A. Wood and the research team of L. Ladah. L. Ladah and the Huttinger family provided facilities for fieldwork. Satellite imagery of CSM was provided by K. Clarke. The University of California Natural Reserve System provided access to CSM. The National Science Foundation/National Institutes of Health Ecology of Infectious Diseases Program provided funding.

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Author notes

  1. Armand M. Kuris and Ryan F. Hechinger: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology and Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA,

    Armand M. Kuris, Ryan F. Hechinger, Jenny C. Shaw, Kathleen L. Whitney, Charlie A. Boch, Julio Lorda, Luzviminda Mababa & Nadia L. Talhouk

  2. Centro de Investigación y Estudios Avanzados del IPN, C.P. 97310, Mérida, Mexico ,

    Leopoldina Aguirre-Macedo

  3. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544-1003, USA ,

    Andrew P. Dobson

  4. Department of Biology, Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA,

    Eleca J. Dunham

  5. Department of Biology, University of Texas Pan-American, Edinburg, Texas 78539, USA,

    Brian L. Fredensborg

  6. Department of Biology, University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, Stevens Point, Wisconsin 54481, USA,

    Todd C. Huspeni

  7. Pacific Islands Fisheries Research Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA ,

    Frank T. Mancini

  8. Department of Biology, University of California, Riverside, California 92521, USA,

    Adrienne B. Mora

  9. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 75 North Eagleville Rd. Unit 3043, Storrs, Connecticut 06269, USA ,

    Maria Pickering

  10. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843, Ancon, Balboa 03092, Panama, Republic of Panama ,

    Mark E. Torchin

  11. Western Ecological Research Center, US Geological Survey, Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA ,

    Kevin D. Lafferty

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  1. Armand M. Kuris
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Correspondence to Armand M. Kuris.

Supplementary information

Supplementary information

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Supplementary information

The file contains Supplementary Data 1 with the standard errors and degrees of freedom associated with the stratified means and confidence limits depicted in all the figures. (XLS 30 kb)

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Kuris, A., Hechinger, R., Shaw, J. et al. Ecosystem energetic implications of parasite and free-living biomass in three estuaries. Nature 454, 515–518 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06970

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